Kate’s doctor prescribed a mild dose of Seroquel (25mg tablet) to control her combativeness after her release from the hospital last November. I used it twice and didn’t like the way it affected her. Since then, I used it once before a dentist’s appointment and another time before a podiatrist’s appointment. It wasn’t until two weeks ago that I used it again to get her to stop talking and go to sleep.
A few nights ago, Kate’s talking woke me up around 1:00 a.m. I’m not sure whether she was awake or talking in her sleep, but it was very much like the talking she exhibited over the past few weeks. She was talking in a loud voice to someone whose presence was an hallucination. At first, I tried to ignore it, but then I tried speaking to her softly and encouraged her to go back to sleep. That wasn’t successful.
My next thought was to try Seroquel. I felt sure that would work, but I try to avoid using it as often as I can. I decided to try music first. If that didn’t work, I could always resort to the sedative.
Since “Edelweiss” has worked before, I put my head on her shoulder and started singing it very softly. To my amazement, she stopped talking almost immediately. Then I hummed it. She was quiet, but I wanted to make sure she was soundly asleep. I reached for my phone on the end table and played “Edelweiss” on the audio system. I set it to repeat twenty times. She didn’t wake up until the next morning, and I was asleep long before the last note was played. Music rescued me once again.
